Esperanza Spalding "Makes Even Dissonance Seem Sweet"

Tuesday June 28, 2011

From The Montreal Gazette

Montreal International Jazz Festival 2011: Esperanza Spalding at Theatre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts; June 27, 2011
By: Bernard Perusse

I managed to catch only the second half of Esperanza Spalding’s Chamber Music Society concert at Theatre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts, having had to get back to the newsroom to file a review of K.D. Lang’s earlier performance.

I was a little disarmed to walk in and find Spalding seated and singing, with no bass, backed by a piano and a cello, violin and viola trio. The piece was, however, strangely beautiful. As the 26-year-old Grammy winner followed that up with a scatted duet with vocalist Leala Cyr and picked up her instrument, the mood got brighter.

Like most of her work so far, Spalding’s music with the chamber project is tough to pigeonhole: it’s filled with life, making even dissonance seem sweet. It’s also overflowing with ideas. Hearing her play a hyperactive bass part while she and Cyr harmonize and the string section seems to comment on the action brings almost too much information to take in, but the buildup still grabs you in a reassuringly visceral way.

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Radio Song (clip)	1:01	Esperanza Spalding
Black Gold	5:17	Esperanza Spalding

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Watch what's on

*Radio Music Society Trailer
Esperanza Spalding at the Oscars
Black Gold
Esperanza Spalding at the Nobel Prize Ceremony

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